"Destination Idaho" to have special screening in Idaho Falls June 13

The film is being shown all around the state this month.

There will be a special Idaho Falls screening Wednesday, July 13, of “Destination Idaho,” a 65-minute “hybrid” documentary by award-winning filmmaker Karen Day.

The screening at 7 p.m. at University Place is open to the public and free. Seating is first-come first-served.

The film was produced by Airstream Adventures Northwest, Idaho Historical Society, the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation and many tourism partners statewide. According to the press release, it is intended to be “a visual journey that will inform and inspire audiences to value and visit the great Gem State by presenting the best things people don’t know about Idaho.”

It includes personal interviews and historical footnotes, offering a family-friendly picture of the Gem State beyond stereotypes and lovely landscapes. North to south, east to west this film shows why Idaho and Idahoans are unique. The original soundtrack is even by Idaho musicians.

Production was financed by enrollment of State, Federal and private stakeholders, including Idaho State Historical Society, Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, Idaho’s National Parks, Boise CVB, Sun Valley Resort and Shore Lodge to name a few among 50 participating statewide entities.

Follow the event on Facebook here: Destination Idaho.

C-A-L Ranch to break ground on new flagship store on Hitt Road

C-A-L Ranch Store, a company whose history has been part of the Idaho Falls community for more than 50 years, has plans to break ground Monday at 10 a.m. on a new flagship store on Hitt Road just north of Wal-Mart.

The company was founded in 1959 by Clinton Murphy and his sons Allen and L. Wayne Murphy. After searching across Montana for a place to start their farm and ranch retail business, they decided to turn south and try their luck in Texas. On their way, however, they stopped in Idaho Falls and decided it would be an ideal base of operations.

After one year, the company outgrew its 1,800-square-foot building on the corner of Curtis Avenue and West 18th Street, relocating to a building in front the stockyards on Yellowstone Highway. In that same time, the company spread to 26 stores across Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. In 1972 it moved to its current location on Anderson Street, where it has sold hundreds of products ranging from ranch and farm supplies to home décor and western apparel.

Although the Murphy family eventually sold the company to longtime Idaho Falls resident and C-A-L Ranch employee Jerry Ward, they have continued to take part in C-A- L Ranch. Allen Murphy’s son, Shane Murphy, facilitated the new location’s sale through his real estate business, Venture One Properties.

The new store, to be built by Tom Stuart Construction, will serve as C-A- L Ranch’s flagship store, more than doubling the current location’s size. It will feature 70,000 square feet of retail space. In addition to the new retail facility, C-A- L Ranch plans to construct a 30,000-square-foot corporate headquarters building on Curlew Drive behind the new store. The office is to be built by Guardian Homes.

Idaho Falls' SnakeBite named Idaho's "Most Iconic" restaurant

When I read that an Idaho Falls had been named "Most Iconic" by PureWow.com, my first guess was it had to be Scotty's because of its flying saucers. But no, it turns out it was downtown's SnakeBite. The writeup is pretty barebones, and there is no mention of the fish tacos, but to be ranked alongside In-N-Out (California), Katz's Delicatessen (New York) and Dogfish Head (Delaware) has got to be good for business, right? Congratulations to Todd and Gina Thoulion and their crew.

The Most Iconic Restaurant in Every Single U.S. State: Dinner with a side of history

Hospice of Eastern Idaho home ready to celebrate first anniversary

Hospice of Eastern Idaho, the area’s only non-profit hospice, will mark this summer the first anniversary of its in-patient hospice home opening in Ammon, at 1087 Curlew.

The home has enhanced end-of-life life care in southeast Idaho by making available a comfortable homelike atmosphere for up to 6 patients at a time. This option is available to hospice patients in need of short-term pain and symptom management, and to patients whose caregiving needs can not be adequately managed in their homes. Admissions may also be provided for family caregivers in need of short-term respite relief.

Many patients typically return to their places of residence after symptoms are under control, while others will experience their final days receiving palliative comfort care in this homelike setting.

There are 67 patients currently being served in their homes by Hospice of Eastern Idaho is 67. Referrals typically come from area hospitals, doctors and individuals familiar with the program. Consultation visits to are free of charge.

Financial support for this project is in progress. Individuals or businesses wanting to make a tax deductible contribution or memorial donation to the Hospice Home may do so online at hospiceofeasternidaho.com, or by mailing a check to Hospice of Eastern Idaho, Inc. 1810 Moran St. Idaho Falls, ID 83401.

For further information please contact Celeste Eld, executive director, or Lisa Long, community outreach, at 529-0342.

Canned food drive to be held during Fourth of July parade

The City of Idaho Falls and the Interfaith Community Service Program (ICSP) will be conducting a food drive during this year’s 4th of July Parade. All donated items will be used locally.

This year’s parade theme is Salute to American Heroes. Parade guests are asked to bring non-perishable food and paper good items to the parade. Mayor Rebecca Casper, City Council members and ICSP volunteers will be collecting the items along the parade route. Watch for them near the front of the parade lineup (entries 13 & 14).

“Our need for donated food items during the summer is extremely high," said Kaaren Parsons, executive director of the Idaho Falls Soup Kitchen. "The many generous donations received during the holiday months begin to run out, and we count on the Interfaith Community Service Program to help get us by until the fall.”

All of the donated items will stay in the community and benefit local organizations such as the Idaho Falls Community Outreach Center Soup Kitchen, Idaho Falls Community Food Basket and St. Vincent de Paul.

Idaho Falls company assembling Zika testing kits for U.S. Olympic Team members

The Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics and the Zika virus are in the headlines right now, but if you're looking for a local connection to those stories look no further than Printcraft Press.

Printcraft is the Idaho Falls company building the huge edifice that you can''t help but notice on your right if you're westbound on the Pancheri I-15 overpass. Along with printing, a significant part of its business is putting together medical testing kits. When the U.S. Olympic Team returns from Brazil this summer, the kits they'll be using to test themselves for Zika will have been put together by Printcraft for ARUP Laboratories, a non-profit owned by the University of Utah.

Printcraft CEO Travis Waters said they have been doing medical kits for about 15 years and that it represents about 40 percent of the company's business. ARUP (which stands for (Associated Regional and University Pathologists) approached him earlier this month about 500 Zika kits for the U.S. Olympic athletes.

The kit is fairly generic looking, a white box with red, yellow and black. When it comes to printing, the real challenge with any medical testing kit is getting the barcodes and numerical sequences right. "There is no room for error," Waters said. Quality control checks are done three times before they go out the door.

Although ARUP is a non-profit, Printcraft puts together kits for for-profit companies as well, including DNA paternity testing for Sorenson Genomics.

DOE announces funding for energy technology partnerships

The U.S. Department of Energy Tuesday announced nearly $16 million in funding to help national laboratories and industrial partners move promising energy technologies to the marketplace.

This first round of funding through DOE's Technology Commercialization Fund will support 54 projects at 12 national labs involving 52 private-sector partners. Nine projects totaling more than $1.04 million involve Idaho National Laboratory.

“Moving research and development from the laboratory to market increases INL's impact,” said Amy Lientz, the lab’s director of Partnerships, Engagement and Technology Deployment. "Over the past decade, INL has signed 697 new technology license agreements, executed 145 competitive research and development agreements and completed 417 agreements with federal agencies and private-sector entities worth nearly $250 million. The nine INL projects awarded federal funds today will advance Idaho's role as an international clean energy and national security innovation hub.”

Projects include:

1. Advanced Outage Control Center Dashboard with Predictive Tools, $60,500
2. Commercialization Research and Development of Change Detection Systems for Nuclear Applications, $62,500
3. Computer-Based Procedure System for Field Workers, $130,000
4. Enhancing Lithium-Ion Battery Safety for Vehicle Technologies and Energy Storage, $119,005
5. 
Vibro-Acoustic Testing for Microstructure Characterization and Metrology, $150,000

6. Additive Manufacturing as an Alternative Fabrication Technique for the Fabrication of Uranium Silicide Fuel, $150,000: Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa.
7. 
Development of In-Core Three-Omega Thermal Conductivity Probe, $74,911: Radiation Detection Technologies, Inc. (RDT), Manhattan, Kan.
8. 
Enhanced and Miniaturized Wireless Valve Position Indicator Prototype, $149,600: Analysis and Measurement Services Corporation (AMS), Rolls Royce, Reston, Va. (US HQ’s), Westinghouse Electrical Corporation (WEC), Pittsburgh, Pa., Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, Calif.

9. Vehicle Controller Area Network (CAN) Bus Network Safety and Security System, $150,000: Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif.